The Set Up
by actionman81
Summary: Little Eli Stabler decides to set up his newly divorced father on a Valentine's Day blind date
1. Chapter 1

Wednesday

"Who is your Daddy and what does he do?" our substitute teacher, Mr. Kimble asked us. He's a big man, bigger than my Daddy, and bigger than my Daddy's work friend, Fin. My Daddy doesn't work with Fin anymore, or anyone else. He's not home a lot. I didn't want to tell Mr. Kimble that.  
"My Daddy's divorced. My Mommy is divorced" I told him  
"Ok Elliot"  
"Eli" I corrected him. Nobody calls me Elliot, even though Mommy says that I'm named after Daddy and that's his name. Only Mommy calls him that. Daddy's other work friend calls him something else, but I forgot.

After school, Mommy took me to the park. I wanted to go. I like the park. There are a lot of other kids there. A girl ran up to me. Mommy says good boys play with girls, but I'm not so sure.  
"Hi" she smiled  
"Hi, I'm Eli" I put out my hand.  
"Come on, I'll race you" she ran away. I chased after her. She was really, really fast. When I caught her, she giggled, "What are you doing for Valentine's Day?" she asked me  
I didn't know what to say. In school, we make hearts out of construction paper, one for everybody, and then we put them in paper bags, but we can't look at them until after lunchtime. It's really hard to wait, like Christmas, but in February.  
"At school we -" I started, but she didn't let me finish  
"My Mommy and her boyfriend are going out on a date"  
"What's a date?" I scratched my head  
She laughed, "A date is when a boy and girl go out at night and they eat dinner and then the boy takes the girl back to her house and kisses her good night"  
"Oh" my head really hurt, even more than when we add and subtract and multiply numbers in math  
"What are your Mommy and Daddy doing for Valentine's Day?"  
"Mommy?" I blurted out. My big brother Dickie said something last night; he gets angry a lot now, "I think Mommy has a date"  
"With your Daddy?" my new friend wanted to know  
"No" I stared at my sneakers, "My Mommy is divorced and my Daddy is divorced"  
"Mine are too" she spoke suddenly and I got a little startled. She saw that I was sad about that so then she put her hand on my shoulder, "It's ok. You got to travel a lot and both your Mommy and Daddy love you a whole lot so they both want to do stuff with you"  
"Oh" I was still thinking about what she took a step backwards  
"I have to go. My Daddy wants me to go now, but I'll play with you tomorrow" she ran off  
"Ok" I smiled. I liked making new friends

Thursday

"Found you!" she jumped up behind me. Are girls always like this?  
"Mommy wanted to know more about you" Mommy always wants to know who my friends are, but I didn't even know this girl's name.  
"My Mommy works in Washington"  
"How come she doesn't work here?" We live in New York. My Mommy had to get a job; she writes now. My Daddy had a job, but then he didn't, but now he's doing something else. I think it has to do with bed sheets. He doesn't talk about it much. He has his own apartment. Sometimes I visit. He has all out photos on his dresser in his bedroom. I have four brothers and sisters.  
"When my Mommy and Daddy got divorced, she moved away, and I go back and forth" she sighed  
"Does it feel bad?"  
"Sometimes, but then I remember how my Daddy and Grandma love me, and my Mommy loves me" she brightened  
"I wanted to show you this" I pulled out a photo of my Daddy, "This is my Daddy"  
She looked at it, "My Daddy is better looking" she was matter of fact about it  
"Oh"  
"But your Daddy is nice too" she said quickly, "so – does your Daddy have a girlfriend?"  
"No. My Mommy thinks he does, but he doesn't"  
"How do you know?"  
"He always goes out for work, but nothing else. He doesn't have a lot of friends after he stopped working"  
"My Daddy has a friend like that"  
"Maybe my Daddy and him should be friends" I grinned  
"It's a girl, and anyway, boys and girls can't just be friends"  
"We're friends"  
"Not kids. Big, grown up boys and girls, men and women"  
"Why not?"  
"Mommy says that they can't. I think that's why they got divorced"  
"If your Daddy's friend just works, and my Daddy just works, maybe they can go out on a date?"  
"Why would they go out on a date?" she stared at me like my face was green  
"I don't know. Recess lets us play. Maybe they need to play?"  
"Maybe" she was hesitant. She thought and thought and I started to get bored. Finally she grinned, "What does your Daddy do?"  
"He used to be a policeman, but now he makes bed sheets"  
"Wow. My Daddy's friend is a police woman too. Mommy says that shared interests help two people when they go on dates"  
"Eli!" Mommy called me  
"I have to go" I started to turn around. She grabbed my arm  
"Wait. Here" she pulled out a marker from her pocket, "Have your Daddy call my Daddy" she wrote her phone number on my arm and then something else. She ran off to her Daddy  
"What does that say?" I pointed to the squiggle on my arm  
"It's my name" she turned around, "Zara!"


	2. Chapter 2

Today I got really excited. After Mommy and I came back from the park, Daddy was waiting to take me out. Usually he's supposed to come on a weekend, but he must've been making bed sheets again.  
Mommy was upset, "It isn't your weekend, Elliot"  
"What can I do, the boss has me busy then"  
"Don't give me that" she snapped, "You weren't working earlier"  
"Something came up. I got a part time gig doing stuff"  
"So, who are you doing?"  
"Don't even go there" then Daddy saw me, "Eli!"  
"Daddy" I jumped into his arms. He's really strong  
"Come on, let's get some dinner"  
"Oh yeah!" I was really glad he came by

Daddy made sure my seat belt was buckled and then we drove off  
"What do you feel like tonight?" he turned to me when the stop light turned red  
"Myself"  
Daddy laughed, "I mean, what do you want to eat"  
"Burgers!"  
"OK, I think I can manage that" he turned the car left and then we pulled into my favorite fast food restaurant. It had a big M on the door  
"You know" he unwrapped his hamburger, "I took a girl out here a long time ago"  
"Was that Mommy?"  
"Um, it was someone else, but she wasn't right, and then I met Mommy"  
"Why did you bring her here?"  
"Well, it was a date" he hesitated, "Look, you're in second grade, you don't have to worry about things like that yet"  
"Sure I do"  
"Excuse me?"  
I showed him my arm, "My friend Zara said that her Daddy knows a girl who wants to date you on Valentine's Day"  
"Really?" he leaned back in his chair  
"Yeah" I nodded my head, "she's a police woman, just like you were"  
"Eli" he leaned forward, "That's great, but I don't know if this is such a good idea"  
"But Daddy" I implored, "Do it for me"  
Daddy sighed, "Ok fine" he held my arm and wrote the number down, "I'm not making any promises" he looked at me, "but thanks. You are one great kid"  
"I know" I smiled


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello?" Nick Amaro answered the telephone  
"Hi, I'm Eli's father. My son gave me this number and asked that I call" he began  
"Oh yeah, Zara" Nick didn't realize who was on the other end of the line  
"Our kids, huh?" Elliot laughed  
"Tell me about it" Nick smiled  
"I don't want to put you on the spot like this"  
"No no, it's fine. The truth is, I do have a friend who could kind of use – well, I hate seeing her lonely on Valentine's Day"  
"And a blind date would fix things?" Elliot sounded incredulous  
"Consider it paying things forward" Amaro explained, "she's been helping me out; I was having problems with my ex"  
"Been there"  
"Then you know what I mean"  
"Absolutely"  
"So I thought I'd help her out. She's been there for me when I needed help, but I don't think I can really give her what she's looking for"  
"Not your type, huh?"  
"Well she's my coworker, and recently she got promoted to be my boss too"  
"Wow, I could never try dating my boss" Elliot chuckled  
"Yeah, well, it seems like our kids put this together. Do you want to bother playing this through?"  
"Yeah, why not. I could use a little break. Work's been crazy"  
"I know what you mean" Amaro nodded  
"Give me her address and I'll swing by tomorrow night"  
"Sure" Amaro dictated the address and Elliot jotted it down  
"So do you think she's even open to this idea?" Elliot seemed concerned about the still unknown blind date  
"She needs this more than she knows" Amaro sounded like an older brother

Friday

"You set me up on a blind date?" Olivia was furious with Nick  
"Take it easy Liv, I was trying to help"  
"Help? Help? I'm up to my ears in paperwork, 1 PP is breathing down my neck and you think I need to take it easy or that I need help?"  
"It's just one night" Nick backed off  
"It's- " Olivia groaned  
"It's ok" Nick retreated, "I'll call him and tell him it's off"  
"Yes" she began, "No, no" she turned around and faced him, "I didn't have all that much planned tonight" she admitted. Her only dates for tonight had been twins- twin bottles of wine on her coffee table. Her breakup with Brian had been difficult, though not messy. He immediately relegated himself to the position of ex-boyfriend and moved his things out of the apartment, and had even offered to pay the following month's rent. Olivia had declined, and would soon find another roommate or move out. She dreaded the prospect of going back to her old apartment because of the memories of Lewis' attack, but even that prospect seemed like a lost cause.  
"Fine" she finally spat out, "Tell him to be at my place by eight tonight"  
"You got it, boss" Nick grinned


	4. Chapter 4

Friday Night

"Thanks for staying here until he shows up" Olivia put on her earrings and rechecked her silver plate necklace in front of the mirror  
Amanda Rollins sat on the queen sized bed, "Sure thing, it's not like I had anything planned for tonight"  
"Oh I'm sorry" Olivia was genuinely concerned, "I didn't realize"  
"Nah it's ok. Amaro dropped off Zara at the airport and he's free and I'm free so-" she cocked her head to one side and motioned with her eyes  
"Ah" Olivia smiled, "take my advice, don't fall in love with people you work with"  
"I'll keep that in mind" Rollins nodded, "but relax Chief, it's just drinks"  
The doorbell rang and Olivia automatically went into police mode. She felt for her handbag, which contained her pistol  
"Take it easy" Amanda reassured her, "it's just your date" she stood up, "I'll go check it out"

Elliot stood outside the door, "Hi, I'm Elliot" he practiced, "Hello", "Hey baby – no", "How you doin'?"  
"I'm doing fine" Amanda opened the door as Elliot vocalized his last utterance  
"Oh, hi" he straightened up, "I'm Elliot, your date for tonight"  
Amanda looked him up and down, "Yep" she finally said, "sorry sport, I'm not your date"  
"Tell Nick I said thanks" he started to turn away  
"No, really" Amanda caught his arm, "Your date's inside. I'm just her – friend"  
"Ok" he stepped inside, "Mind if I sit down?"  
"No, no, not at all" Amanda replied and walked into the bedroom. Elliot took a seat on the couch  
"Nice place" Elliot called to no one listening. He looked around. True to his word, Nick's friend was indeed a cop. Framed photographs hung on the wall, a decorative clock stood on a desk. Elliot's eyes drew towards a plaque for a Sargent's promotion. He stood up to get a better view and as the plaque stood on the desk behind the couch, he turned to his back faced the bedroom door.  
"Here she is" Amanda announced. Olivia followed her, decked out in a red evening dress, matching shoes and black overcoat  
"Hi, I'm Olivia" she put out her hand  
Elliot turned around, "I'm -" his voice trailed off and he couldn't help smiling

And so it begins


End file.
